.500 

It’s a big number in baseball.

If you’re at it, you’re looking to scratch and claw your way as far over it as possible. Every game is precious and it the higher you climb, the more special the spoils. If you’re below, well, you’re trying to get back to it. It’s the point where everyone can take a look around and feel like you’re finally going places.

Teams generally start really climbing or really falling over .500 by the end of June. July, August, September… that’s when all the over .500 teams start jockeying for playoff positions.

But what do you do with the team that refuses to fall below .500, but also refuses to keep themselves from coming back to it?

The St. Louis Cardinals are 34-34. They haven’t been below .500 in 2012. Since May, they haven’t been 5 games over .500 either. They’re refusing to get too hot or too cold. They’re just kind of existing.

Maybe you’re like me and a little less excited for baseball in 2012 after the miracle run in the postseason last fall. And maybe, like me, you thought that was from fatigue, a shorter off-season or the lack of drama that games in mid-summer generally produce compared to October.

But the more I think about it, I’m probably nonplussed about this team because they’re just there. Not overly good. Not particularly bad. But kind of living in this odd space where you can’t get emotional about them either in a positive or negative way. I’ve wanted to bash them several nights (and they’ve deserved it, too) but the next 2 games they win. I want to get fired up about those two wins, then they lose the next two.

Rise, lather, repeat.

So here we are. 68 games down and no more in tune with what this team is or isn’t’ than we were on day 1.

It’s time for the Cardinals to make a move up OR down so we can do something with this team we haven’t done since October.

Feel.

SIDE: What's Google think about Mike so far? Hmm... he's got a job now GOOGLE.

• The most ironic thing you'll see all day. LINK HERE
• Well F Yeah! LINK HERE
• Anyone want to try to cap Abraham Lincoln? LINK HERE
• Times have changed. LINK HERE
• The original autotune. LINK HERE
• Her left knee looks like Jay Leno? LINK HERE

The recession is over baby. O-V-A! 

Funk what you’ve been hearing Mitt Romney talk about this past month. Whatever Obama has done has worked to perfection… at least in St. Louis. I mean, really, how else could 40,000 of our friends and neighbors waste their hard earned scratch filling up Busch Stadium every night?

Riddle me that, Mr. “When Is The Economy Going To Turn Around”.

I mean, unless feckless offensive, porous defense and a horrible bullpen twist your nipples, I can’t think of a single reason to pay your hard earned money to see the Cardinals other than you’ve got dough burning a hole in your pocket. Maybe other Midwest cities are struggling to pay the bills, but in eastern Missouri, things are kosher.

GOOOO 1%!

And if you’re looking to rope some of your other well-heeled friends into coming to join you at Busch Stadium, you might want to send them the refreshed Busch Stadium review from our friends over at Stadium Journey. They’ve updated Busch IIIs specs and ratings (probably to reflect the gold palate tastes of our suddenly rich fan base) and we encourage you to read all about it:

LINK HERE

They’re also a great resource if you like to see other sports teams when you travel. Including pro, college and minor league parks in all sorts of sports. Put them in your bookmarks and thank us later.

Woof. 

Another weekend of baseball for St. Louis. Which equals another losing weekend for St. Louis. How bad is it? The past 6 weekends have produced a 3-15 record (courtesy of Joe Strauss), including dropping 2 out of 3 at Busch Stadium to the very mediocre Cleveland Indians.

After the sticks went silent on Friday, it was the bullpens chance to show they could contribute to the month long meltdown when “closer” Jason Motte entered a tied game in the top of the ninth, put 2 runners on and served a Andy Benes-esque meatball down the pipe to Jason Kipnis who promptly took the ball deep and the score out of hand for the feckless Cardinals.

Again, I say woof.

Meanwhile, the Reds were losing at home to Detroit allowing the Pittsburg Pirates to claim first place in the Comedy Central. That’s right, the Pirates are in first place… now becoming an annual tradition before they fall off to a sub .500 team.

The Cardinals are the most fortunate team in Major League Baseball. Maybe in professional sports.

The Comedy Central is bad in 2012. And it’s been pretty bad for the better part of 10 years. Houston and Pittsburgh are perennial doormats. The Cubs? They’re on pace as of today to finish with the worst record in Cubs history. And the Reds and Brewers are in the same mid-market, we’ll take our chances with what we’ve got and hope for the best mind-set that the Cardinals have.

Only 3 teams can legitimately win the NL Central in 2012. And if the Brewers can’t manage to dig themselves out of a deep funk, then it’s down to the Cardinals and the Reds. Who by maintaining a slightly over .500 record will have around a 50/50 shot of making the playoffs.

We’ve seen what happens if you can just get to the show.

I’m not complaining. I love watching my team in the post-season. But it’s starting to feel like we’re rooting for the backdoor, no? Excusing all sorts of crap play and losing moves because we know that it’s not really going to matter in the end. Get to 85 wins and you’re probably going to get in the playoffs. We’re not demanding excellence, we’re just making sure the Cardinals don’t fall off the map. It's hard to get outraged at a losing every other game when that's actually good enough to get to what we want in the end.

I guess this is just taking advantage of a circumstance. We can’t change the fact the Cardinals reside in the worst division in baseball. But as the seasons tick by and the Cardinals refuse to do more than just what is needed to get in the playoffs, it’s hard to deny other teams cries of the Cardinals being lucky.

Because they’re doing nothing to disprove exactly that.

So there I was scouring the internets for more questionable St. Louis Cardinals draft picks when I came across a blurb on Yankee’s pick Garrett Cannizaro and couldn’t help but wonder if this is the most Yankee looking player to ever get drafted in the history of their franchise? He appears to be the embodiment of the pinstripes. Here’s to really sports hating this kid in 7 years.


The MLB has gone 30+ rounds now and the Cardinals are making picks. Some will make it to the MLB at some distant point in the future. Others, this week will be the pinnacle of their professional baseball career. But as far as I can gather, the Cardinals took all their long-shot chances really early in the draft. So here’s to apple bags.

In lieu of writing anymore, enjoy this lip dub of ‘Call Me Maybe’ by the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders. If the Rams get off to a 0-4 start then I think I’ve found my new team. LINK HERE

Now, the Friday Links…

• Somebody's dad gets in a good one. LINK HERE
• Uh oh. LINK HERE
• Hopefully he got an A. LINK HERE
• Wasn't even that drunk. LINK HERE
• I laughed. LINK HERE
• Very, very true. LINK HERE

Uh oh. 

Earlier in the week we told you about the Cardinals decision to draft Tim Tebow Jr. on the first day. In short: average arm, average speed, average bat, selected in premium position… BUT JESUS!

The MLB draft is a long, torturous process, though. Days of drafting, not only the future MLB stars, but players that will fill rosters of hundreds of teams across the country from Low A to AAA. 12 rounds passed before the Cardinals took one Jose Alberto Pujols.

The past several years the Cardinals have focused on building up the minor league system. And by in large, they’ve taken it from the dredges back to at least respecticibity through the focus of Jeff Luhnow. Problem is, Houston noticed what the Cardinals were up to and hired him as their big league GM. So 2012 is the first draft since the mid 2000s that wasn’t helmed by Lunhow.

Predictably, some red flags have emerged.

Like Mr. Chris Perry.

"I didn't think it was going to happen it all. I thought might come back next year and improve my status," said Perry. "But going in the top 20 rounds kind of made the decision for me."

So Chris Perry didn’t think he was good enough to be drafted, but the Cardinals took him in round 17? Hmmm.

Ok, ok. Again, it’s baseball. Unlike the NFL where you have to hit on every single premium pick and be at least drafting solid starters in the first 4 rounds or it’s death… baseball is more bingo. Put some names in a hopper and you’re going to hit now and again, you just want to stack the odds in your favor as much as possible.

But when Albert Pujols was drafted in the teen rounds, he was pissed. Real pissed. Hell, he’s still pissed. But that’s the kind of attitude you need to fuel a rise to stardom, or at least to get to the Major Leagues. Go ahead and take a mic into the Cardinals clubhouse right now and ask all 25 guys if they got drafted too high.

0% will say no.

It’s going to be years before we can say with any definitive answers if this was a good or bad draft in 2012. Even then, the results may be murky at best. But the red flags are starting to fly high…